In 2025, Gov. Tony Evers introduced a plan that, among other things, would turn Waupun Correctional Institution into a state-of-the-art vocational facility.
The proposal also included closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution and removing young people from the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake juvenile correctional facilities, which were subject to a 2018 class-action lawsuit to address harmful conditions.
“We also need to make sure that plan includes evidence-based efforts to stabilize our skyrocketing prison population and reduce the likelihood that people will reoffend, making our communities safer and saving taxpayers on corrections costs down the road,” Evers said during the State of the State address in February.
Evers has also reactivated his constitutional authority to issue commutations — which shorten a sentence if prisoners meet certain requirements.
The issue of prison overcrowding surfaced again in September with new data from the Department of Corrections that Wisconsin’s prison population reached a record 23,854 people as of Aug. 28.
That followed a 2025 study commissioned by the DOC that said the 23,000+ adults in Wisconsin’s prisons means they are over capacity by more than 5,000 people.
The governor’s plan to transform Waupun into a vocational facility is one of the ideas to change the corrections system in a way that could also help alleviate the state’s perpetual labor shortage.
During his annual State of the State address, Evers said he was still hopeful the two major political parties could work together to pass a bipartisan bill on comprehensive corrections reform.
“We don’t need to ask taxpayers to pay for a brand-new prison that won’t be done for a decade,” he said. “My plan remains the safest, fastest, and cheapest option available. I don’t care who gets the credit; let’s just get it done.”
Since this speech was delivered in late February, not much has been done by lawmakers, although more than 800 people have applied for a commutation since Evers reopened the process earlier this year.
